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The English Poetry and Song Society presents Shropshire Lads songs to the poems of A. E. Housman by Arnold Bax, Benjamin Burrows, Ernest John Moeran and Arthur Somervell together with the five best songs from the EPSS composers' competition performed by Stephen Foulkes (baritone) David Bednall (piano) Recorded ‘live’ at a concert in the Art Gallery of the Holburne Museum, Sydney Gardens, Bath, on Friday, June 2nd, 2006 to mark the 110th Anniversary of the publication of A Shropshire Lad (1896) The titles of the poems are given in italics; for untitled poems their first lines are given in 'normal' print. Key: ASL = A Shropshire Lad (1896); LP = Last Poems (1922); MP = More Poems & AP = Additional Poems (1936) This is a live concert recording but applause has been edited out for better enjoyment X Benjamin Burrows (1891-1966) 1 Grenadier LP V 1:26 2 The half-moon LP XXVI 1:11 3 The sigh LP XXVII 1:17 4 From far ASL XXXII 1:39 X Arnold Bax (1883-1953) 5 Far in a western brookland ASL LII 3:29 6 In the morning LP XXIII 2:22 7 When I was one-and-twenty ASL XIII 3:03 X Five best songs from the EP&SS composers' competition 2006 8 Brian Daubney (b.1929) The land of lost content (5th) ASL LIV & ASL XL 3:30 9 Margaret Wegener (b.1920) Look not in my eyes (4th) ASL XV 3:19 10 Clive Pollard (b.1959) Because I liked you better (3rd) MP XXXI 2:16 11 Calvin Bowman (b.1972) R.LS. (2nd) AP XXII 1:31 12 Stephen Duro (b.1939) Is my team ploughing? (1st) ASL XXVII 5:05 X Ernest John Moeran (1895-1950) 13 When smoke stood up ASL VII 3:36 14 When I came last to Ludlow ASL LVIII 1:01 15 Far in a western brookland ASL LII 2:27 X Arthur Somervell (1863-1937): A Shropshire Lad (1904) 16 i. Loveliest of trees ASL II 1:54 17 ii. When I was one-and-twenty ASL XIII 0:59 18 iii. There pass the careless people ASL XIV 1:14 19 iv. In summertime on Bredon ASL XXI 2:49 20 v. The street sounds to the soldier's tread ASL XXII 2:03 21 vi. On the idle hill of summer ASL XXXV 2:00 22 vii.White in the moon the long road lies ASL XXXVI 2:28 23 viii.Think no more, lad ASL XLIX 1:41 24 ix. Into my heart an air that kills ASL XL 1:35 25 x. The lads in their hundreds ASL XXIII 2:22 total duration 56:17 Profiles The poet Alfred Edward Housman (26.03.1859 - 30.04.1936) was an English poet and classical scholar probably best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. During his education he acquired a strong academic grounding and won prizes for his poetry. At St. John's College, Oxford, he studied classics. Even then, he was a withdrawn person. In 1892, as a result of his further classical studies he was offered, and accepted, the professorship of Latin at University College, London. His reputation grew as a result of his energetic study of the Latin classics and, in 1911, he took the Kennedy Professorship of Latin at Trinity College, Cambridge, staying there for his remaining years. His students regarded him as a severe, reticent, remote authority. For Housman, poetry was a secondary activity after classical studies. Being reticent, the first time he spoke about his poems in public was in 1933 when he gave a lecture entitled “The Name and Nature of Poetry”. In his opinion, poetry should appeal to emotions rather than intellect. There is a Society devoted to the poet – details at http://www.housman-society.co.uk The Penguin Poetry Library publishes A. E. Housman: Collected Poems. The composers Benjamin Burrows was a music teacher in Leicester, who devised a correspondence course for learning music-theory. He had an inspired period as a composer from 1927-8, when he composed nearly one hundred songs while he was in love with a pupil, Jane Vowles, who was having singing lessons with him. Recently, his songs have been published by the Bodnant Press. He wrote thirteen songs to Housman's poems in March and April, 1927. His other main poets were Shakespeare, De La Mare, Burns and Browning, as well as several contemporary poets. Benjamin Burrows was the teacher of Brian Daubney, one of the finalists in the composer's competition. Arnold Bax wrote more than 140 songs, most of them before the end of the Great War (1914-18) which are typified by their virtuosic piano parts, which may be one reason for their neglect! His affair with the pianist Harriet Cohen – who performed many of his pieces -– is well known. A pupil of Frederic Corder at the Royal Academy, Bax absorbed his highly chromatic harmony but forged his own unmistakable style. He had Irish connections, making Ireland his second home. His post-war songs have more accessible piano parts, which are found in his three settings of Housman. Bax is more well-known for his seven symphonies and his tone poems, particularly Tintagel. He succeeded Walford Davies as Master of the King's Music in 1941 after the letter's death. Ernest John Moeran was born in Isleworth, London, son of an Irish vicar and Norfolk mother, who soon moved to Norfolk, where he subsequently collected many folk songs. He studied with John Ireland at the Royal College of Music in London, whose chromatic harmony had a strong influence on his early work as did that of Delius. During the Great War (1914-18) he rode a motor-cycle as a dispatch rider and sustained a severe shrapnel wound to his head which probably brought about his premature death at Kenmare, Ireland, aged 55 years. A determined atheist, he was not above writing some music for the Church! When his close friend, Peter Warlock (Philip Heseltine) died in 1930, Moeran spent more time in Ireland where he became friendly with Arnold Bax. He wrote about 60 songs – 12 of them settings of Housman – as well as a symphony, and concertos for violin and cello, the latter for his wife Piers Coetmore, who moved to Australia before he died. Arthur Somervell, a native of the Lake District, was born in Windermere, the youngest of the six children of the founder of 'K' shoes of Kendal. He studied under Charles Villiers Stanford at King's College, Cambridge, and then in the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, where he heard Brahms conduct the first performance of his third symphony. Returning to England, he enrolled at the Royal College of Music in London with Sir Hubert Parry as his teacher. He was now steeped in English literature, his favourite poets being Shakespeare, Tennyson and Browning, setting a number of their works to music. He earned his living as a school inspector, so his composing was done mainly in the school holidays. In addition to 150 songs, he also composed many choral works and a fine violin concerto. However, he has the prestige of being the first composer to set a cycle from Housman's A Shropshire Lad poems of 1896; this also happens to be the longest, comprising ten poems. His selection follows the course of a young man's life, starting with the innocence of the twenty-year-old in Loveliest of trees, and proceeding through darker shades of disappointment and war to the haunting nostalgia of Into my heart, where the piano reprises the melody of the first song, while the voice intones a high monotone. The cycle ends with the apparent good humour of The lads in their hundreds, though with the thought of death always present. notes © Richard Carder 2006 The performers Stephen Foulkes sang for ten years as a lay-clerk with Bristol Cathedral Choir and is currently bass vicar-choral with Wells Cathedral Choir. He is a regular soloist with choral societies around the United Kingdom and has made many broadcasts and recordings. His extensive repertoire includes works by Bach, Dvorak, Tavener and Finzi in venues as varied as Cologne, Amsterdam, New York and Nymberg (Czech Republic).His performances in the United Kingdom have included most of the great works in some of the leading cathedrals, works ranging from Handel's Messiah in Edinburgh to Monteverdi's Vespers in Truro. In 2005 he was guest soloist with the Silver Ring Choir of Bath on a tour of the Far East and New Zealand. In addition to his concert work, Stephen has sung as principal in opera, and has regularly appeared as judge and recitalist in song competitions for composers under the auspices of the English Poetry and Song Society. Outside music, his interests are mainly water-based – having been a police frogman in a previous occupation. Sailing remains his favourite relaxation. The waterside pubs are also a great attraction! He also enjoys horse-riding and has had a book published on the history of the Mounted Police in Bristol to mark its recent centenary. David Bednall is a student of Dr. Naji Hakim and David Briggs, and is currently Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral. He has been at Wells since 2002 when he was appointed Sub Organist under Malcolm Archer. He was born in 1979 and studied in Sherborne and then at The Queen's College, Oxford where he was Organ Scholar. In 2000 the Chapel Choir toured Paris under his direction, singing at Notre Dame and other venues, and released a live concert CD.